Device for measuring physical properties of elastic bodies

ABSTRACT

A device for measuring mechanical properties of an elastic body, comprising: 
     at least two contacts adapted to contact a surface of an elastic body to be measured, at least one of said contacts being a movable contact; 
     a drive section for moving said movable contact; 
     a control section for controlling an action of said drive section; 
     a detecting section for detecting a stress generated by the movement of said contact as an electric signal; and 
     a processing section for processing the electric signal for the stress detected by said detecting section and an amount of movement of said movable contact, 
     wherein the action of said contacts making contact with the surface of said elastic body includes a closing action of the two of the contacts and a stationarily holding action after the closing action.

This is the U.S. National Phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 of InternationalApplication PCT/JP01/00304, filed Jan. 18, 2001, which claims priorityof Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-9671, filed Jan. 19, 2000.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a device for appropriately measuringmechanical properties of elastic bodies such as mechanical properties ofa skin.

BACKGROUND ART

Conventionally, as a device for measuring mechanical properties ofelastic bodies such as a skin, there are known devices, such as aso-called Cutometer for bringing an adherent probe into close contactwith the skin and sucking and exhausting a gas therefrom to measure adegree of deformation of the surface of the skin caused thereby, and aTwistometer for rotating a contact on a surface of the skin to measure astress generated from the skin side in response to the rotation. In suchdevices, there are difficulties in that measurement cannot be performedtaking into account directivity of the skin and quantitative measurementcannot be performed in the strict sense of the word. In addition, aforce applied to the skin by these devices is not a force applied to theskin in a daily life.

As a device capable of measuring extending ability of the skin in anarbitrary direction, there is known an extensometer (Acta. Derm.Venereol. (Stockh), 1997, 77:416-419). However, the only mechanicalproperty value that is measured by this device is extending ability.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The inventors have found that a collagen fiber structure exists indermis of the skin and, therefore, there is a significant difference ofmechanical properties according to directions. Therefore, meaningfulmechanical property values cannot be measured in the skin unlessdirectivity of measurement is controlled strictly. Moreover, theextensometer for pulling the skin to measure its extending ability isnot regarded as an optimum machine for measuring mechanical propertiesin examining relationship between mechanical properties and wrinkleformation.

The present invention has been devised under such circumstances, and itis an object of the present invention to provide a device for measuringmechanical properties of elastic bodies that is capable of strictlycontrolling a direction of measurement and measuring mechanicalproperties or the like that are more related to wrinkle formation on asurface of an elastic body such as a skin.

In view of such actual circumstances, the inventors concentrated theirefforts on researches and, as a result, found that such measurement ispossible by using a device for measuring mechanical properties ofelastic bodies that is capable of analyzing deformation of the skin dueto an external force imitating a force that a facial skin of a human isactually subjected to in a daily life, that is, measuring and analyzinga stress of the skin when the skin is contracted. That is, the presentinvention relates to the following technology.

(1) A device for measuring mechanical properties of elastic bodies,comprising: at least two contacts adapted to contact a surface of anelastic body to be measured, at least one of the contacts being movable;a drive section for moving the movable contact; a control section forcontrolling an action of the drive section; a detecting section fordetecting a stress generated by the movement of the contact as anelectric signal; and a processing section for processing the electricsignal for the stress detected by the detecting section and an amount ofmovement of the movable contact, in which the action of the contactsmaking contact with the surface of the elastic body includes a closingaction of the two of the contacts and a stationarily holding actionafter the closing action.

(2) A device for measuring mechanical properties of elastic bodiesaccording to (1), which further comprises a display section fordisplaying data processed by the processing section.

(3) A device for measuring mechanical properties of elastic bodiesaccording to (1) or (2), wherein the elastic body to be measured is askin.

(4) A device for measuring mechanical properties of elastic bodiesaccording to any one of (1) to (3), wherein a probe is comprised of thecontacts, the drive section and the detecting section, and the devicecomprises an arm section for holding a position of the probe.

(5) A device for measuring mechanical properties of elastic bodiesaccording to any one of (1) to (4), which comprises a holding sectionfor holding the elastic body to be measured.

(6) A device for measuring mechanical properties of elastic bodiesaccording to any one of (1) to (5), wherein the contacts are fixed onthe surface of the elastic body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a device of Embodiment 1.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a protocol of Embodiment 2.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a plot pattern obtained in Embodiment 2, inwhich measurement is performed in a central part on an outer side of aforearm (at approximately 10 cm from a wrist) and in a short axisdirection.

FIG. 4 shows characteristics and parameters of the plot pattern obtainedin Embodiment 2, in which r5, r6, r7, r8, t6 and t8 of the fifth wavecorrespond to r1, r2, r3, r4, t2 and t4 of the first wave, respectively.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a device of Embodiment 3.

FIG. 6 shows results of measurement of silicone rubber (a) and agarosegel (b) in Embodiment 3.

FIG. 7 shows results of measurement of a skin of a human arm inEmbodiment 3.

FIG. 8 shows results of calculating average values of parameters Fmaxand Fv for each site and direction of measurement.

FIG. 9 shows results of measurement of silicone rubber (a) and agarosegel (b) in Embodiment 4.

FIG. 10 shows results of measurement of a skin of a human arm inEmbodiment 4.

FIG. 11 shows results of calculating average values of parameters F1,F2, F3 and T for each direction of measurement.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The present invention will be hereinafter described in detail centeringon embodiments.

(1) Contacts of the Device for Measuring Mechanical Properties ofElastic Bodies of the Present Invention

The device for measuring mechanical properties of elastic bodies of thepresent invention is characterized by having at least two contacts, atleast one of which is movable. This is because a distance between thecontacts is changed, whereby an elastic body on which the contacts areplaced is deformed and a change in a stress caused in accordance withthe deformation shows characteristics of mechanical properties of theelastic body. In this case, when two contacts are provided, one of thecontacts may be stationary and the other may be movable or both of thecontacts may be movable. In the case in which both the contacts aremovable, analysis of a change in a stress becomes more complicated thanthe former case. In addition, a device having three or more contacts tomeasure and analyze a change in a stress with respect to a morecomplicated deformation pattern also belongs to the technical scope ofthe device for measuring mechanical properties of elastic bodies of thepresent invention. Further, both the movable and unmovable contacts arepreferably fixed on the elastic body by adhesive or a viscous materialduring measurement. However, the contacts can be used with theircontacting parts made in a shape having a large coefficient of frictioninstead of being fixed if evaluation of sliding resistance on theelastic body is taken into account.

(2) A Drive Section of the Device for Measuring Mechanical Properties ofElastic Bodies of the Present Invention

The device for measuring mechanical properties of elastic bodies of thepresent invention has a drive section. The drive section functions as apower source for moving the above-described movable contact. As such apower source, a motor or the like can be preferably mentioned. Forexample, rotational motion generated by a motor is converted to linearmotion by a cam, a pulley and the like to cause the movable contact tomove linearly. An amount of movement of the movable contact driven bythe drive section is monitored according to motion characteristics of amovable portion such as position coordinates and the number of rotationsof the contact.

(3) A Control Section of the Device for Measuring Mechanical Propertiesof the Present Invention

Kinetic energy generated by the drive section causes the contact tomove, for example, linearly. Such movement is controlled by a controlsection. This is because the surface of the elastic body may bedestroyed if an excessive amount of movement is applied to the contactor reliability of a measurement value may be damaged if motion controlis not performed properly. Such control is preferably performed based onresults of the above-described monitoring of an amount of movement. Inaddition, such control is managed by a computer or the like and becomesmeans for specifying a motion pattern (action) of the movable contact.As such a computer, a commercially available personal computer can beused.

The motion pattern of the movable contact in the device for measuringmechanical properties of the present invention is set such that theaction of the contact making contact with the surface of the elasticbody includes a closing action of the two of the contacts and astationarily holding action after the closing action. Preferably, amotion pattern is used in which a basic cycle consisting of the closingaction for reducing a distance between the contacts, the stationarilyholding action for maintaining the distance between the contacts and arestoring action for restoring the distance between the contacts isrepeated, and the motion pattern is analyzed based on a measurementvalue obtained in the last cycle. An initial value of the distancebetween the contacts and its reducing value and reducing speed areproperly selected according to a type of an elastic body. In the case ofa skin, the initial value, the reducing value and the reducing speed areusually selected from the ranges of 3 to 10 mm, 0.5 to 5 mm and 0.5 to 2mm/sec, respectively. The number of cycles is usually one to five.

Consequently, mechanical properties that are considered to more stronglyaffect wrinkle formation of elastic bodies such as a skin can bechecked.

(4) A Detecting Section of the Device for Measuring MechanicalProperties of Elastic Bodies of the Present Invention

A detecting section of the device for measuring mechanical properties ofelastic bodies of the present invention detects a stress derived from anelastic body which is caused by movement of the movable contact. Thestress detected in this way is transmitted to a processing sectiondiscussed bellow as an electric signal. Thus, the stress generated bythe movement of the movable contact indicates mechanical properties ofthe surface of the elastic body and is detected as a numerical value onwhich various mechanical properties of a elasticity value are reflectedaccording to a motion pattern of the movable contact.

(5) Probe

The above-described contacts, drive section and detecting sectionpreferably constitute a probe as one unit for convenience of use. Such aprobe preferably has a structure in which its position is fixed duringmeasurement. As for position fixing means, the probe is preferablyattached to an end of a so-called arm which has a metal framework and aspring portion and whose position can be fixed and aligned. With such astructure, a position and a direction of the contact can be changedfreely and mechanical properties of the elastic body can be measured inan arbitrary direction with respect to the surface of the elastic body.Such easiness of deformation of the arm should be lower than themovability of the contact. In addition, it is preferable to provide aguard ring surrounding the contact. Influence by parts outside themeasurement area can be minimized by providing the guard ring. Examplesof the guard ring include a guard ring of a square cylinder shape and aguard ring of a double cylindrical shape, wherein an inner cylinder canslide inside an outer cylinder and the inner cylinder is energized by aspring to protrude more than the outer cylinder. A part contacting theelastic body may be coated with silicone for slip prevention.

(6) A Processing Section of the Device for Measuring MechanicalProperties of Elastic Bodies of the Present Invention

A processing section of the device for measuring mechanical propertiesof elastic bodies of the present invention is a part for processing anamount of movement of the movable contact and a stress generated by themovement of the movable contact. A usual personal computer may be usedas the processing section and a special-purpose program may be preparedfor the processing. However, the amount of movement (or positioncoordinates of the movable contact) can be plotted on the X-axis and thestress can be plotted on the Y-axis utilizing, for example, aspreadsheet software such as Excel manufactured by MicrosoftCorporation. When such plotting is performed on a graph, acharacteristic pattern can be obtained for each elastic body.

The obtained pattern may be analyzed as a whole or a part of the patternmay be analyzed as parameters. For example, in a pattern obtained in abasic cycle consisting of a closing action for reducing a distancebetween the contacts (step 1), a stationarily holding action formaintaining the distance between the contacts (step 2) and a restoringaction (step 3) for restoring the distance between the contacts, theparameters include a maximum stress at the time of reduction in step 1(Fmax in FIG. 6 or F1 in FIG. 9), a maximum value of a stressattenuating at the time of maintenance in step 2 (Fv in FIG. 6 or F2 inFIG. 9), a maximum value of a stress decreasing at the time of releasingreduction in step 3 (F3 in FIG. 9) and time until the attenuation of thestress reaches F2/e (e=2.718) at the time of maintenance in step 2 (T inFIG. 9).

Moreover, the device for measuring mechanical property of elastic bodiesof the present invention preferably has a display section for displayingdata processed by the processing section. The display section is, forexample, a display.

According to the device for measuring mechanical properties of elasticbodies of the present invention, mechanical properties in a form of acombination of mechanical properties attributable to a surface itself ofan elastic body and mechanical properties attributable to an innerstructure of the elastic body can be measured. Examples of propertiesreflected on such mechanical properties include a loss of elasticity dueto aging, a change in accordance with photoaging, properties relating towrinkle formation and the like.

A specific example of the device for measuring mechanical properties ofelastic bodies of the present invention will be described with referenceto FIG. 5. Contacts are comprised of arms 2 having silicone members 1for slip prevention at their ends. Strain gauges 3 are attached to probesides of the arms 2 as detecting sections. One of the arms 2 is mademovable by a stepper motor 4 functioning as a drive section. Electricsignals from the strain gauges 3 are amplified by a strain amplifier 6and inputted in a computer 8 functioning as a processing section througha stress signal regulator 7. In addition, the stepper motor 4 iscontrolled by a motor controller 5 functioning as a control sectionbased on a control signal from the computer 8. An amount of movement ofthe contact is calculated by the computer 8 from the control signal tothe motor controller 5. Then, data processed by the computer 8 aredisplayed on a display 9. In measuring mechanical properties of theskin, operations are applied to the skin such that the silicone members1 at the ends of the contacts make contact with the skin and a distancebetween the arms 2 is reduced and restored by the stepper motor 4controlled by the motor controller 5, whereby the skin is contracted andrestored. An amount of movement of the arms 2 and a force from the skinapplied to the arms 2 at this time are inputted in the computer 8 andmechanical properties are measured.

Embodiments

<Embodiment 1>

A device for measuring mechanical properties of elastic bodies shown inFIG. 1 is provided with a probe having one movable contact and onestationary contact and also having a motor (drive section) for drivingthe movable contact, a control section for controlling forward movement,backward movement and stop of the contact and a detecting section fordetecting a stress applied to the contact and, moreover, is providedwith a personal computer functioning as a processing section fortransmitting a control signal of movement to the control section inaccordance with a program, converting this control signal into aposition coordinate (X coordinate) and capturing the detected stress asa Y coordinate. As a motion pattern of the movable contact, the twocontacts are initially set in positions 4 mm apart from each other andthe movable contact approaches the unmovable contact by 1 mm in onesecond. Thereafter, the movable contact keeps this position for fiveseconds and returns to the original position 4 mm apart from theunmovable contact in one second. The computer is programmed to repeatthis work five times.

<Embodiment 2>

Positions of a probe and patterns of a stress were measured in a centralpart on an outer side of an upper arm (photoaging site) and a centralpart on an inner side of a forearm (physiological aging site) withrespect to seven subjects in their twenties, five subjects in theirthirtieth and five subjects in their fiftieth using the device ofEmbodiment 1 and in accordance with a protocol shown in FIG. 2. Anexample of a pattern of a graph in such measurement is shown in FIG. 3.Parameters shown in FIG. 4 were calculated from coordinates of each siteof this pattern. When relationships among these parameters, measuredsites and ages were checked, results shown in Table 1 were obtained.From these results, it can be seen that non-invasive measurement ofaging of the skin, which cannot be measured conventionally, can beperformed.

TABLE 1 Minor axis Parameter measurement Major axis measurement F1(1) Nosignificant No significant difference difference F2(1) No significant ↓*(p < 0.05) Physiological difference aging site F3(1) No significant Nosignificant difference difference T(1) No significant No significantdifference difference F1(5) No significant ↓* (p < 0.05) Physiologicaldifference aging site F2(5) No significant ↓** (p < 0.01) Physiologicaldifference aging site F3(5) No significant ↑* (p < 0.05) Photoaging sitedifference T(5) No significant No significant difference difference

<Embodiment 3>

A measurement device of this embodiment will be described with referenceto FIG. 5. Contacts are constituted by arms 2 having silicone members 1for slip prevention at their ends. Strain gauges 3 are attached to probesides of the arms 2 as detecting sections. One of the arms 2 is mademovable by a stepper motor 4 functioning as a drive section. Electricsignals from the strain gauges 3 are amplified by a strain amplifier 6and inputted in a computer 8 functioning as a processing section througha stress signal regulator 7. In addition, the stepper motor 4 iscontrolled by a motor controller 5 functioning as a control sectionbased on a control signal from the computer 8. An amount of movement ofthe contact is calculated by the computer 8 from the control signal tothe motor controller 5. Then, data processed by the computer 8 aredisplayed on a display 9. A guard ring (which is made of metal and has asquare shape with one side being 33 mm and a width of 10 mm) is providedaround the contacts in order to minimize influence by portions outsidethe measurement area.

Motion pattern of the movable contact is the following:

Step 1: The distance between the arms is reduced from 4 mm to 3 mm (1mm/sec);

Step 2: The distance between the arms is maintained at 3 mm for fourseconds; and

Step 3: The distance between the arms is returned to 4 mm (1 mm/sec).

Repeat of the cycle: Five times (the pattern is analyzed for the lastcycle)

Silicone rubber was measured as a highly elastic sample and agarose gelwas measured as a sample having viscoelasticity using theabove-described device. An example of measurement results is shown inFIG. 6. When the pattern was analyzed using a maximum stress at the timeof skin contraction (Fmax(V) in FIG. 6), and attenuation of a stressobserved in step 2 (Fv(V) in FIG. 6) as parameters, Fv observed in theagarose gel was hardly observed in the silicone rubber. Therefore, Fv isconsidered to be a parameter relating to viscoelasticity. In addition,it has been found that Fmax increases dependently on hardness of thesilicone rubber or concentration of the agarose gel. Therefore, Fmax isconsidered to be a parameter relating to hardness.

Next, using the above-described device, measurement was performed withseventeen healthy white males and females (in ages of twenty tosixty-one) as subjects in two directions along minor axis and major axisof the arm with respect to two sites, a center of the inner side of theupper arm and a center of the outer side of the forearm. An example ofmeasurement results is shown in FIG. 7. It can be seen that the resultshows a pattern of the agarose gel type having viscoelasticity.

Results of calculating average values of Fmax and Fv for each site anddirection of measurement are shown in FIG. 8. On an inner side of anupper arm, both Fmax and Fv had no significant difference in twodirections. However, on an outer side of a forearm, both the parametershad significantly higher values in a long axis direction than in a shortaxis direction.

In addition, correlation between each parameter and ages is shown inTable. 2. In both the sites, correlation with ages was recognized inFmax on the inner side of the upper arm and in Fv on the outer side ofthe forearm, respectively, only in the major axis direction, not in theminor axis.

TABLE 2 Upper arm Forearm Minor Major Minor Major axis axis axis axisParameter direction direction direction direction Fmax — ↓* — — Fv — — —↑* ↑: Positive correlation, ↓: Negative correlation *: 0.01 < p ≦ 0.05,—: 0.05 < p (Paired t test)

From the above results, it has been found that, by the measurement usingthe measurement device of the present invention, the mechanicalproperties of the skin on the outer side of the forearm that is anexposed site are different in the major axis direction and the minoraxis direction, and that changes in mechanical properties of the skincorresponding to aging are recognized in the major axis direction onboth the inner side of the upper arm and the outer side of the forearm.That is, a possibility of analyzing connection between changes inmechanical properties corresponding to photoaging and wrinkle formationwas indicated by using the measurement device of the present invention.

<Embodiment 4>

The same device as in Embodiment 3 was used except that the motionpattern of the contacts was changed as described below and the guardring was changed to the one that was formed in a double cylindricalshape, such that an inner cylinder could slide inside an outer cylinderand the inner cylinder was energized by a spring to protrude furtherthan the outer cylinder. Motion pattern of the movable contact

Step 1: The distance between the arms is reduced from 4 mm to 3.5 mm(0.5 mm/sec).

Step 2: The distance between the arms is maintained at 3.5 mm for fourseconds.

Step 3: The distance between the arms is returned to 4 mm (0.5 mm/sec).

Repeat of the cycle: Five times (the pattern is analyzed for the lastcycle)

Silicone rubber was measured as a highly elastic sample and agarose gelwas measured as a sample having viscoelasticity using theabove-described device. An example of measurement results is shown inFIG. 9. When analyzing was performed using a maximum stress at the timeof skin contraction (F1(V) in FIG. 9), a maximum value of a stressattenuating at the time of maintenance of the distance (F2(V) in FIG.9), a maximum value of a stress decreasing at the time of releasingcontraction (F3(V) in FIG. 9) and time until the attenuation of thestress at the time of maintenance reaches F2/e (e=2.718) (T (seconds) inFIG. 9) as parameters, F2 observed in the agarose gel was hardlyobserved in the silicone rubber. Therefore, F2 and T calculated based onF2 are considered to be parameters relating to viscoelasticity. Inaddition, it can be seen that F1 and F3 increase dependently on hardnessof the silicone rubber or concentration of the agarose gel. Therefore,F1 and F3 are considered to be parameters relating to hardness.

Next, using the above-described device, measurement was performed witheighty healthy Japanese males (in ages of twenty-one to fifty-nine, anaverage age of 45.3) as subjects targeting outer canthus portions on theface in two directions, horizontal and vertical, with respect to a lineconnecting an inner canthus and an outer canthus. An example ofmeasurement results is shown in FIG. 10. It can be seen that the resultshows a pattern of the agarose gel type having viscoelasticity.

A result of calculating average values of F1, F2, F3 and T for eachmeasurement direction is shown in FIG. 11. In the parameters F1 and F3relating to hardness, values in the vertical direction was significantlylower than those in the horizontal direction. That is, it was found thata significant difference was recognized in mechanical propertiesrelating to hardness in these two directions in the skin of the outercanthus on the face.

In order to examine relationship between the measurement values anddegrees of wrinkles of the subjects at this time, light was irradiateddiagonally from above at an angle of 20 degrees on a silicone replica ofthe target site collected at the time of measurement, a percentage of anarea of generated wrinkle shadows to an evaluation target area (1 cm×1cm) is calculated as a wrinkle area ratio by image analysis, andcorrelation between this ratio serving as an index of evaluation of adegree of a wrinkle and each parameter obtained in the measurement bythe measurement device of the present invention was checked.

Results are shown in Table 3. As a result, correlation was recognizedonly for T in the vertical direction. From this, a possibility ofviscoelasticity in the vertical direction relating to wrinkle formationin the outer canthus portion on the face was indicated.

TABLE 3 Correlation with a wrinkle area ratio Horizontal VerticalParameter measurement measurement F1 — — F2 — — F3 — — T — ** (Negative)**: 0 ≦ p ≦ 0.01, —: 0.05 < p

(Test of Alienation of Single Correlation Coefficient)

From the above-described results, it was indicated by the measurementusing the measurement device of the present invention that the values ofthe parameters F1 and F3 relating to hardness are significantly lower inthe direction perpendicular to the line connecting the inner canthus andthe outer canthus on the skin surface than in the direction parallel tothe line in the skin of the outer canthus on the face, and that themechanical properties of the inner canthus skin are not equal in all thedirections.

In addition, as a result of examining the relationship between themeasurement values by the measurement device of the present inventionand the degrees of a wrinkle in the outer canthus portion on the face,correlation with the degree of a wrinkle in the outer canthus wasrecognized in the parameter T relating to viscoelasticity in thedirection that is perpendicular to the line connecting the inner canthusand the outer canthus on the skin surface, and possibility of thismechanical property affecting wrinkle formation on the outer canthusskin was suggested.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The above-described device for measuring mechanical properties ofelastic bodies of the present invention has the following effects.

(1) Since the device has the movable contact, the device can measuremechanical properties of an elastic body while strictly controlling aposition and a direction of the contact on the surface of the elasticbody. This is particularly preferable for grasping mechanical propertiesof an elastic body with directionality in mechanical properties such asa skin that has a structure in which fiber bundle structures of collagenbeing an origin of elasticity line up in one direction under the skinbecause measurement can be performed for each direction. That is,disturbance or the like of a collagen fiber bundle, which conventionallycan only be measured invasively, can be measured non-invasively. Inaddition to this characteristic, an action pattern of the movablecontact is set to include a closing action of the two of the contactsand a stationarily holding action after the closing action, wherebycharacteristic values suitable for examining connection with wrinkleformation or the like can be measured.

(2) According to the device for measuring mechanical properties ofelastic bodies of the present invention, mechanical properties in a formof a combination of mechanical properties attributable to a surfaceitself of an elastic body and mechanical properties attributable to aninner structure of the elastic body can be measured. Moreover, in apattern analysis of changes in numerical values of the mechanicalproperties, the mechanical properties are obtained as multidimensionaldata that can resolve a variety of factors rather than as aone-dimensional numerical values as in the Cutometer.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device for measuring physical properties ofskin, comprising: at least two contacts adapted to contact a skinsurface to be measured, at least one of said contacts being a movablecontact; a drive section for moving said movable contact; a controlsection for controlling an action of said drive section; a detectingsection for detecting a stress generated by the movement of said contactas an electric signal; and a processing section for processing theelectric signal for the stress detected by said detecting section and anamount of movement of said movable contact, wherein the action of saidcontacts making contact with the surface of said skin includes a closingaction of the two of the contacts and a stationarily holding actionafter the closing action.
 2. The device for measuring physicalproperties of in according to claim 1, which further comprises a displaysection for displaying data processed by said processing section.
 3. Thedevice for measuring physical properties of skin according to claim 2,which comprises a holding section for holding said skin to be measured.4. The device for measuring physical properties of skin according toclaim 1, wherein a probe is comprised of said contacts, said drivesection and said detecting section, and the device comprises an armsection for holding a position of said probe.
 5. The device formeasuring physical properties of skin according to claim 1, whichcomprises a holding section for holding said skin to be measured.
 6. Thefor measuring physical properties of skin according to claim 1, whereinsaid contacts are fixed on the surface of said skin.
 7. The device formeasuring mechanical physical properties of skin according to claim 2,wherein said contacts are fixed on the surface of said skin.
 8. Thedevice for measuring physical properties of skin according to claim 2,wherein a probe is comprised of said contacts, said drive section andsaid detecting section, and the device comprises an arm section forholding a position of said probe.